Rape In War

The influence of media is ubiquitous as we are all exposed to it, and influenced by the messages they attempt to sell. For example, the trope of science gone wrong is a classic plotline of science fiction that is present enough in media to give anyone a sense of paranoia. Media is indeed a force to reckon with. In a world in which the success of media is based off of its audience, the question arises to: to what extent may media alter truth to gain attention, and how may media influence society’s values?

This underscores why politicians have long perceived mass media as a veritable channel of disseminating an ideology so that the society can mirror itself against what the media feeds it and thus be manipulated. This further begs the question of whether the media is a contributor or otherwise to societal problems in the face of political ideological dissemination.

According to ICRtoP, the Democratic Republic of Congo is reported to be the “rape capital of the world” with an estimated 15,000 rape cases in the Congo’s eastern provinces alone. Rape is a tool of war used by the various armed forces in the Congo in order to “create instability in

During the Rwandan genocide, some rapes occurred recurrently throughout a timespan. “Sexual enslavements occurred when a woman was detained, typically in the house of an Interhamwe, and subjected to repeated sexual assaults over a period of days,” (Mullins 727). These kinds of rapes belong in their own category because of the added element of confinement and intent to continually rape and therefore, harm. An Interhamwe soldier named Rafiki, personally sought out one Tutsi woman whom he had

The video focuses on events in the Republic of the Congo, but it’s commonplace where there are chaos and lawlessness. Consider how people changed in the wake of hurricane Katrina, cultural norms eroded overnight and the criminal action began, so far there have been over 140 reported rapes and gang rapes. During the fight in Africa, these actives are normal. Without legal repercussion, conflict rape is considered “an unchangeable externality of war (Haddad, 2002).” As a weapon it’s has a psychological effect on the families and communities involved. It instills fear in both genders because of the fear of it being done to them and as important to their loved ones. The uncertainty of that’s happened to the people that go missing in the night is unimaginable. Another disturbing intent of people in power is to remove the bloodline of the opposed (aka ethnic cleansing), this is done through forced breeding, mutilation of females, eliminating future generations and ultimately driving the unwanted from the territory (Isgandarova, 2013). The third use of a weapon if creating fear to destabilize communities makes are taken and forced into combat roles while females are taken for the pleasure of their captors. This fear paralyzes people preventing them from taking up arms or collaborating to stop the offenses. With fewer adolescent and young adults, generations become weaker

The question asks in relation to the events of 1915 where a series of policies and practices which sought to forcibly deport the ethnic group known as Armenians from the Ottoman empire resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million and high rates of rape and sexual violence.The answer to this question would not be examined extensively until recent genocides of the 1990s such as in Yugoslavia where rape was perpetrated by Serbian soldiers against Bosnian and Croatian women and in Rwanda against Hutu women by the Interahamwe. In the case of the Armenian people, or more specifically Armenian women, these acts were in perpetration of attempts at either expelling or exterminating the ethnic group itself by utilizing the culture of victim blaming as well as the patriarchal system which regulated women to be the bearers of their group.

In “Rape as Weapon of War in the Eastern DRC? The Victim's’ Perspective” by Anna Maedl, It begins to describe the problems around the community and how some respond with rape to help it stop. Rape as a Weapon used against people? For me it doesn't matter if you deserve to suffer, rape isn’t something to be played with or become an answer to a problem. “Indiscriminate violence against civilians, including mass rape and sexual torture, are not an exception in so-called “new wars”18 or “complex political emergencies,”19 but are the modus operandi by which these armed conflicts are fought.” (Rape 131) Modus Operandi? Which means a new way of doing things, but why rape? During the wars they believed as something normal one could do to another country’s women, yet after the massive rapes happening many women were destroyed emotionally. Not only did they chances to marry pure has disappeared, but also they are unable to even look at their love one like they did normally. When a person rapes another person, I think of them as animal that shouldn’t be considered human. Why don’t they think, “what happens if someone was raping one of my family member? How would they feel? And what would I do?” they don’t think about the consequences of the victim and of the child they may posses in the near future. However, even though the research that was conducted knew there were massive of rapes, they were able to conclude a concise number because of the numerous women who didn’t want to be interviewed of the situation that happened to them. What makes me angered is most of the victims were unable to fight back for their freedom because about 90.9% of the attackers were carrying weapons like pistols, spears and Machetes/knifes (Rape 140). Though I was unable to get a clear picture on which side Anna was trying to argue with, I have a clear statement on how the victims felt and the massive rape that was happening during the wars like World War II.

While war in the DRC already created unpleasant outcomes, such as poverty and corruption, it also created cruel type of a weapon, humiliation and rape of women beside the guns and bombs. Meger asserts in her article that the majority of the rape crimes involve gang rapes, “with an average of 4.5 attackers per victim,” and they also tend to be systematically preplanned (127). Women depicted in Ruined are examples of rape victims. Salima’s story in particular demonstrates how violent and unforgiving it can be out in there. She was gang raped when she was in her garden and her attackers even ended up killing her infant. Not only was she brutally assaulted, but also neglected and abandoned by her husband and the village, which left her nowhere to turn to. Salima sees Mama Nadi’s bar as a place to live, but in an entirely new way of

In our modern, 20th century society, we must deal with crimes by nation states. This involves governmental crimes, democratization, and transnational forms of policing. However, under this broad topic of crimes, it can be narrowed down to focus on particular topics. One I would like to focus on is genocide- the mass murder of a group of people that eliminates the social vitality of a group. And in delving deeper into this topic, I want to focus on the role and experience of gender, specifically women, in the case of genocide. In 20th century lives, genocide occurs often in times of war. The problem that is over looked is the consequences of genocide on women during times of war. The issue of gender, women’s rights, and violence against

Sexual violence, including rape and the intentional spreading of HIV, was a common way of perpetrating genocide against Tutsi women. As discussed by Dorris Buss (2009, 145-146), feminists have argued that rape is not just a by-product of violence, but something that is planned and used intentionally as a method of destruction against the enemy. Consequently, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda classed rape as a crime against humanity as it was done with the intention to destroy the Tutsi population because of their racial background (Buss, 2009, 150). Specifically, rape was used to disgrace the Tutsi women’s identity and humiliate Tutsi society more broadly, in addition to creating mixed-race children that would serve as a reminder of their degradation (Mullins, 2009, 722). Mullins expands on this by adding that rape was used as a mechanism to heighten fear and domination over Tutsi women and to terrorize them and their families, as their husbands and

An estimated 250,000 to 500,000 woman were victims of rape during the Rwandan genocide. More than 67% of these woman also suffered from the transmission of HIV through a system rape used as a genocidal weapon. This was one of the many cruel methods carried out by Hutu nationalists to oppress the Tutsi people, and eradicate their presence from Rwanda. Over a 3 month period Rwanda experienced an outbreak of mass killings of Tutsi people and Hutu moderates. Media broadcasting prompted Hutu nationalist to raise arms against their Tutsi oppressors, who for decades had subjected them as inferior by influence of a biased imperial race ideology. Nationalism was a driving force on both sides of these two major ethnic groups in Rwanda. The introduction

When discussing genocide, it is simpler to discuss the overall impact of the collective to create an elaborate visualization of the horrific events incurred by genocide, than to focus on the impact of a single genocidaire. The victims of genocidal violence are given a respectable amount of attention, because they are the victims of atrocities and they deserve justice and recognition for their sufferings. Due to the recent influx on research into the sociological effects of rape culture and the psychological post-traumatic effects of rape, research on the utilization of rape in genocide has become increasingly popular among academics of all disciplines. Unfortunately, little research has been done on how genocidaires, who were once regular civilians of a state, electively join in the execution of mass violence through committing rape and murder. Modern sociologists and psychologists have yet to define a collection of definitive characteristics of the genocide rapist, as the majority of research is done on individual perpetrators have had contact with the criminal justice system and are likely incarcerated. While extensive research has been done on the characteristics of living-victims, the genocidaire rapist, however, is unlikely to be individually targeted and charged with sexual assault, let alone be analyzed by behavioral scientists for diagnostic research. Assuming that not all people are inherently born with the will to kill and commit sexual violence, it’s important to

The media, a powerful source of information but what are the affects? While the media is seen by many as a vital source of information offered through a variety of different outlets, the theoretical underlining affects of the media demonstrates how stories from within it can influence society. The imprtance of not only recongnizing but understanding the media’s affects remains a vital priority in all forms of information today in how it is received and interpretated by different audiences. The level of effect of the media however, has been disputed heavingly, as with different forms of media such as online have developed a different affect for the mass media consumer. When regarding the level of effect the media holds, the 2016 Presidential campaign presents a prominent case study that shows a limiting affect of the mass media that

“The media are a primary source of those pictures in our heads about the larger world of public affairs, a world that for most citizens is ‘out of reach, out sight, out of mind’ and what we know about the world is largely based on what the media decide to tell us” (McCombs).

Over the past century or two it has become quite evident that elite certainly hold all the cards when it comes to what the public should know through the media which initially was supposed to be autonomous of the government and the socially elite. This essay will mainly focus on the findings of Noam Chomsky and his postulations, the works of Harold Innis and his influence on the first application of the political economy approach within the media. And I will touch base on theories by Boyd Barrett then neatly wrap it up with a bow of how influence impacts public opinion in general.